


Of deals, magic and secrets

by Shadowdianne



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-03 15:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15821379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/Shadowdianne
Summary: Storybrooke town is shocked to the core one early morning as the rumors on Leopold’s White death begin to run through the city. One of the most powerful men on several miles around, his fortune and titles is not what the tabloids are talking about, however, but on his widow. Regina Mills, prime suspect and partial newcomer to the small miner-town does not let that deter her from her goal; the search of a very important ring she asks Emma Swan -thief extraordinaire- to retrieve from the hands of a shady individual the always cocky blonde feels scared from. Slight touches of magic and Victorian setting.





	Of deals, magic and secrets

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Of Deals, Magic and Secrets[Fanart]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16046375) by [DamaLasi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DamaLasi/pseuds/DamaLasi). 



> Well, this comes from my love to Victorian settings and just a little to those awful novels settled on a Victorian-esque world with just enough of the supernatural to keep me going. As guilty pleasures, I couldn’t stop thinking about this story and so, after losing half of it and being unable to connect to my google docs for almost a month and a half, and nearly quitting more than once because of it… here it is.  
> A couple of acknowledgments to the one in the shadows that helped me not to lose myself too much on info-dumping and over explanation. She is not from the fandom -so who knows if she will end up reading this here but hey, who knows- but adores the Victorian era as much as I do and forced me to take it down a notch. Which I think was a good call considering how slow the pacing was during that first draft. Another nod to the amazing mods that keep this SuperNova going, time after time. I still can’t wrap my head around all the work they must need to do for this to work.  
> And a final viva la swan queen for everyone. Long live the Queens!

_What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference?-Gail Carriger_

_0_

Darkness reigned on the big mansion that raised alone on one of the edges of the town, surrounded by yews and shrubs that casted shadows on the pebbly road that led to the main door. Beyond that only a few lampposts glowed, the tremulous glow they offered not enough to reach neither the first or second floor in where slightly curved windows looked down to the grounds.  Silent eyes that, as theoretically as dormant as the residents of the mansion, stayed undaunted to the occasional night watchman that whistled about through one of the richest quarters of the city.

The moon hung low that night, painted in slight hues of red that had had some fortune tellers and worried mothers mutter at it as clouds had gathered around it a few hours before but, as clocks ticked by nothing, except the occasional howling wind, seemed willing to disturb the sleep hours of the ones living on the stony building. Unless, of course, a scream rose through the night, making that occasional watchman to halt and turn, eyes narrowed as they swallowed, hands quickly grabbing the nightstick they had with the emblem of the town embedded on it.

The surrounding shadows remained silent to the screams that quickly transformed into an almost cacophony. However, inside the mansion, the until now calm darkness, almost vibrated with the rush of several pairs of footsteps, mutters and cries echoing through the wooden-covered walls in where rich portraits hung, the gold details on them glimmering under the small candle a one particularly looking ragged servant carried as she, with tears of worry falling down her face, walked towards the furthest room on the second floor.

The door wasn’t closed but the servant doubted for a moment, hand hovering over the doorknob as the first of many to come knocks rose from the main door downstairs, a worried voice seeping through one window that hadn’t been properly closed.

“Miss?” She called, dubious. Sleep could still be seen on the way her movements lacked the finesse she was asked to have considering her position and so, she startled as a rich voice came from the other side of the voice. Far too steady and definetely not belonging to someone who have just awaken.

“Enter.”

The servant nodded, more to herself than to the owner of the voice and, carefully trespassing the candle from one hand to the other, she stepped inside, her footsteps immediately muffled by the carpet that covered the floor. On daylight the reds of the fabric of the carpet would have made a fine contrast against the mahogany of the wood but now, as the servant saluted with wobbly lips to the brunette seated at her vanity, it almost had the color of dry blood. A detail that made the servant swallow, a shudder running down her spine.

“Miss” She began again, eyes casted down, at her feet in where her badly tied shoes stared back at her. “Is the Lord, he…”

Regina Mills blinked as the servant stammered, stumbling with her own words as she shook her head, seemingly trying to find a way to explain the ruckus that now came from the other side of the door. Covered in only her nightgown and hair slightly unruly, she seemed as if she had just raised up from the bed. Something, a part of the servant’s brain noted, couldn’t be possible as the bed and sheets didn’t have a single wrinkle on them.

Standing up from her vanity and walking towards her, Regina run her fingers through her brunette locks and rose both brows, trying to catch the servant’s eyes with her own.

“Please, speak up, what has happened with him?”  Her voice was still calm and collected and the servant found herself unable to keep dragging the answer much more, her lips trembling as the memory of the image she had been described appeared on her mind ever stronger than before.

Downstairs, the deep voice of the nighttime watcher floated towards them. Time, the servant thought, the memory of the innumerable times she had been repeated to be efficient, making her square her shoulders and raise her head. Looking straightly to the Lady of the house she finally answered, her words escaping from her, coming tumbling down from her lips as she, finally sobbed them out.

“He is dead. Dead on his chambers.”

* * *

 

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. By the end of the night, as the sky began to turn from deep black to purple and blue, the police had already arrived at the mansion, filling the place with the awful smell of cheap tobacco Regina had never liked. She, as well, had changed and now the nightgown was gone, replaced by a demurred but tight black dress. One she now smoothed over as she answered to the questions of some young policeman whose eyes kept going back and forth to her as he tried to write down the concise and slightly abrupt answers she kept giving to him.

“So, you weren’t with Lord Leopold…”

“As I am sure some newspapers have already covered more than one time, officer, my husband and I slept on separate beds. A detail that is already public enough for you to be doing such question.”

The young policeman nodded, flustered, and wrote down a squiggly dark line on his notepad, illegible enough for Regina to scoff at as she crossed her arms in front of her.

Her maid had told her to wait a few hours ago as she helped her to get ready while the first shouts of the police had begun to approach the not any more tranquil corner of that side of town. Call for a necromancer. One that could return the Lord back to life, or perhaps -she had said excitedly and yet showing the proper respect any maid should have- reanimate him long enough so they knew what had happened.

Regina, however, had shook her head and, curtly, had told her that there wasn’t a thing necromancers could do to them right now.

“He is dead, what we can do is to respect that.”

Now, as she groaned inwardly while trying to not send the policeman in front of her running, she wondered if it hadn’t been for the best to actually go with the bother of calling a few necromancers. Just enough so she could have something else to explain to the corpulent man that kept on his questioning for what felt the hundredth time.

“And before your maid woke you up you didn’t hear anything suspicious? Perhaps a window opening? She said there was one on the corridor leading to your room that wasn’t as tightly closed as it should have. No one tried to open your door?”

Regina rose one brow at the man, jaw tight as he glanced at her. A farm boy, she thought, taking into the disheveled look not even the town’s uniform could hide. Probably the first time being inside of a mansion such the one they were in. Despite the amount of police uniforms and questioning that broke the atmosphere of the otherwise solemn building the rich dark colors alongside with the details and markings on the expensive-looking wood panels the place still looked royal. A word that made her suck on her teeth, sourness on her throat.

“I already told you, officer. I didn’t hear a thing until I was told that… my husband had been found dead. Something that deeply disturbs me as you should imagine.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am.” The policeman now sweated nervously, pointing down at his notepad while doing so with one slightly trembling hand. “I’m just trying to…”

“I know what you are doing.” Regina sighed and gave a hint of a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m just exhausted and I have learnt that my husband is dead. I just,” She halted and pinched the bridge of her nose, black fabric taut on her chest as she inhaled. “can we have the rest of this conversation later on? I think I need to rest my eyes for a moment. Collect my thoughts a bit.”

The policeman seemed to think on it, nervousness still showing around his eyes as Regina kept the pose, glancing at the man through slightly narrowed eyes. Finally, after what felt hours, the man nodded twice before stammering an apology. One Regina didn’t bother herself on answering as she turned and nodded to her staff while already climbing the stairs that would led her to the room. No one tried to stop her.

Her room had been untouched, the focus on the one its door laid open at the other side of the corridor. That was why, as she finally closed the door behind her, her figure hidden away from the portraits that hung at both sides of it, ominous painted eyes seeming to almost follow her every step, the room was quickly covered in darkness. One Regina took after a few moments, once her eyes got accustomed to it.

Pursing her lips, she walked towards her vanity, the one her servant had found her seated at. Pressing her hands against the wooden surface in where a variety of jewels and perfumes laid, she let out a loud, deep sigh that climbed its way up the room, coiling around the intricated details the ceiling showed. Something she had considered unnecessary the very first time she had been shown the room, tears still drying on her cheeks.

Shuddering at the memories, Regina looked outside, throughout the uncovered window. Quietness broken, the far-away sky seemed trouble; faint lines on it showing the spots where dark clouds overlapped, covering the titillating stars as well as the moon. A storm, the brunette thought, her lips moving, was forming.

Growling inwardly and glancing again at her vanity, she picked up one small purple vial, empty and open as she took the small bottle with her index and thumb.

Outside, the first droplets of rain began to fall, a silhouette appearing almost immediately as the brunette looked back up, her skin getting paler as she saw how it turned from the middle of the road the dark shadow stood, an air of defiance on it, as a bolt crossed the sky.

“Ma’am?”

The voice of her maid made her turn, her usual calm and collected demeanor not as perfect as usual. Luckily for her, the young girl didn’t seem to notice as she was quickly looking down, her hands ironing the fabric of her own dress, eyes casted down.

“The police are leaving. They said that they would be back on the morning though.”

The brunette, still frazzled, merely nodded. Feeling her mind beginning to reel, she looked down at the vial yet again, at its color.

“Miss Nolan.” She called as the girl turned, ready to leave the room and her Lady on it. The blonde-haired woman hummed, her eyes glistening for a moment under the faint light the relentless bolts kept on casting on the now awake mansion. “I need to ask you a favor.”

1

The fog that had awoken alongside the rumors that had fed Storybrooke’s every inhabitant from breakfast to dinner, now grew thin on the outskirts of town. Grey-hued and cold, it leaved a damp path on its wake that made everything gleam under the last sunrays that had timidly peeked from beneath dark clouds the last hours of a day that had felt both long and short for both the police and the staff of one household.

Elucubrations had been made even before the whole word had been out of the mansion, its wooden panels holding enough creative-thinkers for Leopold’s corpse to be blue or covered in pustules by the time the first police-officers started to leave. Something the Daily Mirror had quickly reported with large block letters while attesting that every single detail written was true according to “anonymous sources”. Needless to say, Regina had read the newspaper herself, as her maid walked outside holding the bag of coin she had procured her and the small envelope she had merely signed with an intricate “R”. By the time she had returned – cheeks flushed- Regina had already read her name written on the granular papers.

The Daily Mirror had had the deference to paint her as the scared and scarred widow of one of the most important man both inside and outside the town. The rumors that had reached her ears by midday, however, hadn’t been so nice.

Murderer, vampire and devil had been only the ones she had caught the local boy who tended to help her gardener mutter under his breath when he thought she wasn’t listening to him. Deviant, evil and twisted had been others she had heard as she, after receiving a small note from her maid, shushed details being whispered on her ears, had gone to the police station. Downing the black and purple ensemble of one mourning, she had seen the looks and heard the whispers as she walked past the gates of the stone-made building that hold the few policemen the town had. Placed in the middle of town, the smells and noises were unavoidable, but the brunette had rose her head and sauntered inside, brown eyes glimmering as she seethed with anger.

Now, however, not surrounded by people and already camouflaged on the thinning fog and dark, spiky buildings around her, she walked briskly, cape covering any detail her dress -close to her waist, simple and not overly elaborated lines keeping the fabric close to her figure- may have.

Crocked and badly-kept, the stones that paved the roads of the town had a maze-like feel that had actually surprised Regina the first time she had arrived at the city, her eyes still new to the small mining town her mother had told her was just a step into a much bigger plan.

One she had never gotten to see.

Lips pursed at the memory, she walked past a few sad-looking lampposts. Made of brass, the elongated pools of light they created weren’t enough to illuminate anything a few inches beyond them and, as such, Regina found herself counting her steps as she blinked in and out of sight.

The rules had been succinct but clear. Enough so that, once she reached the lower tier of the road, where the upper-middle class began to clash with the lower one, she was able to find the small passage between two buildings. The tardiness of the hour helped; no one was really on the streets and the nighttime watcher would do first the roads from the upper class. The ones who weren’t rich enough to live on mansions but still flaunted their gold.

It was at the other side of the passage where Regina stopped and turned, looking at the shape of what could very well be a door; the faint line the door created traced with the already peeling almost molten wax of a candle. Candle, the brunette thought as she glanced both right and left before knocking on the wood, that wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Knocking for a second time, Regina didn’t wait for a third. With a click, the faintly delineated door caved under her fingers, letting her see a dimly illuminated room in where the titillation of dozes on candles glowed as she stepped inside, hands clasped around the edges of her cape.

What she first saw were the pictures, newspapers yellowed and brittle looking back at her as she glanced around.

“You don’t seem to be on your usual burrow, your majesty.”

Regina turned and looked haughtily at the female figure seated on an old crate of wood. Dust covered every inch of what she now started to fear was the backdoor to a forgotten fairy dust den and, as the woman dressed on men’s clothes stood, she glanced once towards the now slowly sliding back door.

The woman approached her, the glow of the candles that Regina was sure to be a fire-hazard, giving her blonde hair an almost orange glow. Locks long and free, they cascaded around the woman’s face, over her strong shoulders that never once stopped moving. Almost as it the woman was permanently trembling, ready to bolt.

She looked younger than Regina and, despite her trust on her maid, she briefly wondered if she hadn’t been conned.

“I…” She started, only to be shushed by the woman, a smirk dangling from fine, pinkish lips.

“You are Regina White. Recent widow of Leopold White.”

“Mills.”

It came out in an almost growl and Regina could feel the taste of acidic bile climbing up her throat as she answered to the other woman’s quip. She wasn’t Regina White, despite the status and wealth the man had provided her. She had her own surname. Her own history. And she intended on keeping it.

The stranger stared at her for a moment, smirk still on place but eyes devoid now of the cockiness sported earlier. As the woman eyed her, Regina pressed the tip of her tongue against her front teeth. Waiting.

Finally, after what felt hours, the blonde nodded.

“Mills it is. You are now the prime suspect; did you know that? When Kathryn came to me I was still reading the newspaper but after listening to her story… I hope you know smuggling you out the city isn’t going to be easy. Specially with the necromancer the police have now working for them. They can smell you better than any dog could.”

“I’m not here for that.”

Regina’s tone was enough to make the blonde halt and hum, obvious curiousness glistening on her eyes as she glanced at her. The movement made the lapels of the jacket she wore open a little, revealing a pendant with a swan-motif. Eroded as they were, that the details of the swan were almost gone by now.

“I want you to help me find something. “

That certainly had the other woman interested.

“It’s not something that happens every day; having a prime suspect ask me to probably commit more crimes for them.”

Regina could feel her jaw beginning to clench at the tone of the blonde.

“I didn’t kill my husband.”

“So does say the Daily Mirror.” The blonde snickered at her own words and pointed at the crate she had been seated at. At its feet, wrinkled and slightly teared, the first page of the newspaper looked back at her; her own name torn and still intelligible enough. “But I don’t think our beloved Sidney Glass is anything but biased, right?”

Narrowing her eyes, Regina stared at the woman in front of her; annoyed. It was true after all; Sidney Glass hadn’t tried to hide his affections for her, even no long after she had arrived to Storybrooke, the looming shadow of her father’s death weighing her down as she was forced to take the vows.

The blonde, unaware of her musings, tapped the fingers of her right hand together, creating a soft staccato, as she widened her stance, green eyes returning back the glow of the candles that laid around them, some even floating with the help of what Regina suspected it to be a small charm bought on some lost market.

“Enough of that.” The blonde’s voice rose as she smiled. “What kind of favor you need from the Swan itself Miss Mills?

A part of Regina urged her to turn and left. The memory of the silhouette on her garden, however, kept her steady.

“I need you to retrieve a ring for me.”

2

The ticking sound of the clock tower that rose above Emma’s head gurgled once as one single note run through the dusty air of the room she was still standing. Green eyes narrowed and one hand pressing against the secret panel that opened the door that led to alleyway her most recent visit was probably crossing right about one, the thief went by their conversation once again, stopping on each movement and glance, on each wince and flutter of eyelashes, her mind could remember.

Good as she was at judging people’s character Regina had been one hell of a read. Full of anger and worry; her eyes had been clear on that the second she had managed to her look at her, away from the newspapers that hung from her small room she called home. A detail some clients caught on. A detail this one in particular hadn’t seem to see.

Negative emotions were, however, the easiest ones to recognize. Those fed onto its host until there was nothing else to take. Such were the principles of magic after all. A knowledge that wasn’t something many knew. Nevertheless, the blonde thought as she went back to her crate and picked up the battered newspaper with one hand halfway covered in fingerless gloves, deeper emotions had been harder. And, perhaps for that, when Regina had asked her the favor, whispering in quiet hushes what it was about, Emma had almost feel tempted to ask her what else was she not telling her.

Secrets were, after all, as good coin as gold was. She trusted Kathryn though, the maiden’s tremulous frame present on her mind’s eye as she had nodded her agreement.

Agreement she now re-considered. A ring. Such a little thing and yet something that had made the newly-turned widow abandon the safety net her mansion gave her and search for her, risking not only her reputation but her credibility before a judge if she ever got caught.

Which she doubted.

Scratching the back of her head, Emma threw the newspaper towards the furthest wall. Sometimes, on nights warmer than the one they were in, the scent of fairy dust could still be felt, floating around and tinting everything with its unique hue. Not that night though and so, when the newspaper hit the wood nothing, but regular dust came out of it.

Regina Mills, Regina White until that very morning, was a newcomer to the town, one that everyone tended to think as being brought from those who said that small towns didn’t have a proper place on the big scheme of things. Necromancers ruling and helping the kings that divided the enchanted forest into smaller duchies, a miner town in where a moment without magic, a possibility with it was still possible, was nothing but a bother.

Which had led everyone to look with fear and hatred to the woman that had arrived to town three years ago. A month before Emma started her own career on the underbelly of the town.

No one had seemed to question why someone so young was being married off to Leopold White. A man that could very well be her father. No one seemed keen on starting to wonder what had happened with the mother of the woman; a strict-looking woman Emma had never meet but had read of her, that had disappeared on day without a trace.

Now, with Leopold dead, it didn’t truly matter who received his lands. As Regina refused the surname that went with the title the White’s family was over.

A detail that Emma didn’t truly care about. She had been on enough cities to know such things happen more frequently that one would expect. Regina, however…

A ring.

The woman had had a very detailed description of the ring she wanted to retrieve. The moment Emma had asked her why someone could have the ring itself, the woman had scoffed and glanced at her with a look that had made Emma want to clench her jaw, anger slipping inside of her.

“That’s none of your concern.”

An answer that now got Emma thinking on whether she should help the haughty woman or not. After all, she reasoned, she hadn’t get paid yet and if justice was quick enough she would never receive her payment.

On the other hand, there was something else that intrigued her, be that be Regina’s own security and power. One Emma hadn’t seen on anyone who wasn’t a magic user. Curious as she was, she growled at her own stupidity and picked up one feather of the few of them that laid at her feet, mixed with the rubble and semi-darkness that usually accompanied it.

She needed to make a call.

* * *

 

The tracing of sigils didn’t take long. The wait for a child to appear from the shadows, however, made her almost fall asleep.

“You called?”

Startled, Emma gaped at the Lost Boy as the boy glanced at her, one brow raised as he waited. Strange and always dirty, Lost Boys were urchins that had created their own morale and code. Protected by Pan, no one had ever been close to break them and admit how they managed to sneak in and out of houses. Luckily for Emma, she knew how to call them.

Or at least, she knew how to call one as it always appeared the same in front of her; dressed in the same ragged clothes and same stubbornness on the way he rose his chin, not so willing to follow the very rules the sigils made him follow.

“I’m looking for a ring.”

“Do I look like a pawnshop?”

That alone made Emma chortle a little as she took on the boy’s appearance, on the way he held himself. She didn’t feel at ease with the looks the Lost Boys tended to have, far too inquisitive, but she kept the gaze on him until the boy sighed, crossing his arms in front of him.

He didn’t have a chance, they both knew it.

“What kind of ring?”

“The kind that belongs to Regina Mills.”

That made the boy pause, his eyes blue and scared for a moment as he glanced at her, a frown beginning to appear.

“What do you know?”

Emma let out a small smirk, one that dangled from her lips as she took on the boy’s worry. Guarded, the almost teen couldn’t go any further than the wall he was leaning now.

“That it was stolen last night.”

“We didn’t have anything to do with White’s murder.” It came far more collected than the question from before. Death, after all, as interesting as this one seemed to be, was just something they all learnt to deal with from a very young age. It was something Necromancer’s spoke about after all; the possibilities death itself brought and created.

“I haven’t said that.”

The boy fumed but nodded curtly. It was a truth after all. Something every lost boy gave to whoever that had summoned them. Complete honesty.

Humming, Emma tilted her head and waited, knowing the kid would end up talking. A bet she won less than five minutes after that as the boy groaned and looked up the ceiling of the room, nodding more to himself than to Emma as he began to talk.

“I don’t know who has that ring. I only know I overheard Pan promising something to Gold last time he asked for an audience.”

Gold.

The name made Emma almost lost her footing as the child, fed up, knocked twice on the wood he had at his back. Sigils dropping, the Lost Boy disappeared into thin air. Not leaving a trace behind.

It was perhaps time to go and ask a few things to a certain widow.

3

Mansion still dark, the whispers and mutters of servants beginning to start their day was the background whisper that accompanied Regina as she glanced at the pebbled road outside, still halfway undressed from her last night outing and with one glass of the cider that had been gifted to Leopold some time ago. The man had hated the drink; considered far too sparkly. Regina, however, had gingerly taken the bottles for herself not once telling her now dead husband what had she done with them.

Taking a sip and wincing slightly at the slight lukewarm taste it left on the back of her throat, she caressed her sternum with wandering fingers while she kept a close eye to the road. Nervousness wasn’t something she tended to feel. Calm, collected. Cold, aloof perhaps if some of the gossip from her neighbors was something to go by. Nervous, however, wasn’t something that tended to suit her and, as such, she pressed her lips until they became a thin white line.

Deals, she thought before downing the entire drink, were something she already should know that didn’t bring anything good.

Turning just slightly so she could still have a view of the main entrance through the uncovered windows, she re-started to disrobe. The process was complicated, more so without the aid of a maid but, as much as she felt that Kathryn was someone she could somehow trust even if it only was out of the respect and fear she inflicted on the other woman, she preferred not to leave any trace behind. Enough cookie crumbs had already reached the police station after all.

Dark mood beginning to settle, she put every dark garment on a nearby chair, the unruffled sheets glaring at her, remembering her that she had spent another night without resting. Something that would probably cost her.

She almost didn’t hear the rattling of her window, or the soft chime of the runes she had asked to be custom-made for her room only. Runes that Leopold had looked at suspiciously before pretending he let her have them. It was all smoke and mirrors after all, the runes kept outsides off from entering but couldn’t do a thing for the ones that entered through her room. Shaking her head and pushing her thoughts at the back of her mind, Regina turned, still holding the last piece of undergarment close to her chest.

The raised blonde brows of the Swan were something she truly didn’t expect but there it stood the thief; casually seated at her windowsill with eyes dark enough to appear almost grey on the dim breaking light of a new day.

“I think we need to talk.” The blonde began. There were no weapons on her, none visible at least, but Regina knew enough of thieves and the reputation the woman in front of her hold. She wouldn’t be who she was if she didn’t know a few tricks. Which was why, instead of looking demure and frightened, she merely cocked her hips and waited patiently until the other woman jumped inside her room, no look of strain on her face despite the quite interesting climb she had just made.

“Did you complete the task?” She asked, suspecting fully well than as good as the other woman was it was almost impossible for her to have already done that.

The blonde, instead of letting her question startle her, merely chortled as she crossed her arms, her shoulders raising as her eyes seemed to thunder. She looked angry, but not menacing and Regina sauntered towards her bed, crossing one leg over the other and doing her best to not seem bothered by her partial nakedness. She didn’t mind, she told herself, she shouldn’t mind, she remembered. She was, after all, the temptress according the local gossip. One thief wasn’t going to destroy that façade.

“When you told me that you needed my help.” The Swan started, her voice collected but fury seeping through on each breath intake. “You didn’t tell me that it was Gold who had it.”

The brunette narrowed her eyes at that. One thing she needed to concede to the other woman was definitely how quick she was on gathering intel. Better than those idiots down at the station at least.

Still, she thought as she rose her chin, she hadn’t asked her to tell her something she already knew.

“I didn’t think that was something worthy to know, Miss Swan.”

“Bullshit.”

The blonde spat out the word with anger, taking a step towards her but remaining far enough from her personal space that Regina didn’t feel inclined to move. She was at her own house after all, the one who had been her prison. She wasn’t going to let the other woman to make her feel weak.

“I beg your pardon?” She quipped back. “I thought the amazing Swan didn’t have problems with taking anything from anyone.”

The blonde’s anger just rose at her answer but something inside of her burned off. Like a light titillating on a dark night. Smirking inwardly, the brunette rose, feeling she had managed to get an upper hand the other woman still didn’t realize she had.

“Or is it not?” She began, taking a step towards her, noticing the way Emma’s hands clenched around her own forearms, electricity about to burst. “I can pay you double if that’s what you want.”

“I came to see if you knew who had your ring. I see now that you indeed knew it. Do you expect me to infiltrate the house of the man that moves everything around here?”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

Emma laughed at that, a deep throaty laugh that made Regina lick her bottom lip, waiting for the other woman to make a move. Move that the other woman took as she stepped forward, the whisper of her clothes as she did so almost inaudible.

“I think there is more to that ring that you want to let on.”

It was Regina’s turn to take a step forward, her breathing controlled by her fury growing stronger as she eyed the woman in front of her. She wouldn’t be scared, she thought, not if she had something to say about it.

“I didn’t pay you to ask me questions.”

Emma shrugged and pointed at the window. The light was getting stronger now, the beginning of the long shadows of the still delicate sunrays beginning to peek from the other side of the shrubs.

“I can still walk out of this, Mills.” She said, anger and rage on her eyes. “And you would still have a ring to retrieve and every police officer and necromancer trying to put a pretty bow on the case that is currently pointing at you from every angle. I deserve and explanation if I’m going to start poking my nose on the house of the most dangerous man on the city.”

Regina seethed with rage, the same kind of rage that turned everything red and fuzzy around the corners of her vision. The woman was right, she admitted to herself, she needed the aid, the job done. It didn’t mean that she liked how the other woman didn’t seem bothered by her.

Maybe that was where her plan had failed, a voice whispered to her on the back of her mind. No one should do things half-way. That had been the only valuable teaching she had gotten from mother after all.

“I gave him the ring in exchange from something else. Yes.” She whispered through gritted teeth as she pulled the last bit of clothing she had closer to her chest. An irreflexive movement that caught the blonde’s eyes for a moment before they went up again, searching.

“You won’t tell me what that something else was, will you?”

It was Regina’s turn to chortle. The blonde, as infuriating as she was, wasn’t perhaps the idiot she had once thought she was.

“I’m the widow of another very powerful man, Miss Swan.” She replied, haughtily. “If you think I will fall for a tantrum you are severely mistaken.”

Emma’s eyes widened for a millisecond, green softening the grey but still inquisitive enough that made Regina raise her mental walls even higher. A move, she realized far too late, that had been noticed by the infuriating blonde.

“There is something that is worrying you however.” The woman said, and Regina had the sudden impulse on simply slapping her. Something, she quickly reminded herself, would only give the other woman the upper hand. Something she didn’t plan on doing. “What is it? What kind of deal someone like you may have wanted to make with him?”

“That’s everything you are going to have from me.”

Emma let out a quick huff and nodded curtly, the sides of the tight coat she wore around her frame swishing as she turned back to the window.

“I will be counting each coin after this.” She called over her shoulder. “I expect double than you promised me, Regina.”

“A little too informal, don’t you think?” The words came out of her mouth, blurted and devoid of the finesse she was accustomed to talk to. A slip of her tongue, a quick glimpse on her upbringing, that made Emma laugh bitterly before she jumped off the window, not gracing her with an answer. The movement was graceful enough to make Regina suspect the blonde herself had a couple of runes on her, but she resisted the tug of curiosity and let the window close as her own sigils began to work again.

The blonde had calculated perfectly the amount of time she would have between charges. A detail that assaulted Regina as she heard the faint whirring of the guards.

“Impressive.” She muttered despite her anger.

Looking back at her bed, she shook her head and picked up her clothes again. As much as she wanted the blonde to complete the job she wasn’t going to be left waiting and wondering. Too much at risk.

4

Lost Boys were known for the way the slipped in and out any house the settled their eyes in. As quick as the wind and twice as ethereal, the summoning was something very few people knew how to do. Catching one red-handed, however, was something only a former Lost Boy knew how to do.

Which was why, as the sun started to firmly set on Storybrooke and the first fog began to disappear, Emma circled the corner of one of the less fortunate neighbors of the town and leaned on the soggy wood that kept the old houses around her together and standing. Cloak on, she was a very difficult passerby to spot. A detail that had helped her a lot during her first years as the Swan, something that had aided her to gain enough recognizement to acquire the place she lived now in. Sadly, it didn’t block the scent of piss that permeated every surface around her.

She didn’t need to wait too long. Sigils writing themselves on the air, soon enough a small child appeared out of thin air, stepping outside a blurry house that, outside of him, titillated and disappeared just as soon as the two feet of the ragged boy were firmly planted on the muddy soil that worked as a road on that part of the town. It didn’t take long for the boy to look around, jewelry dangling from his pockets as he sniffed the air, eyes careful and a mop of brown hair obscuring part of her gaze.

It took even shorter for him to bolt at the sight of Emma, the sigil of the Swan visible enough through the coat she wore after all to everyone who knew where to search.

“Really?” The blonde muttered to no one in particular, dashing towards the boy as fast as she could. She was good, she admitted to herself as the boy did not only use the crooked alley to his favor but also sigils that he activated with dirty fingers. An escape route. One Emma remembered being on effect during her own time as a Lost one.

Unluckily for the kid, she wasn’t some idiot from the station. She knew exactly where the alley ended and what the kid was trying to do. With one last effort, she jumped and propelled herself in the air just as the last sigil the boy had touched titillated one last time. Enough to give her a boost the kid wasn’t expecting.

With a yelp, the boy tried to turn left, towards the only secret entrance situated at the end of the crooky street. Sadly, Emma already had her arms outstretched and, as they collided, there was very little space for him to reach the hidden trapdoor.

“I only want to ask you a question.” She gruntled as the boy tried to flee.

“Then make a summoning.” The young kid spat back, eyes defiant behind the mop of brown hair. “You know the rules.”

“I don’t have the time for that.” She replied, still with one hand preventing the kid from bolting. With a grunt, the boy tried to wiggle out of her grasp until he realized it was useless.

“What do you want to know.” He finally sighed, voice defeated. He was young, ten years at most and Emma wondered how long he had been on the Lost Boys. Things like that were difficult to see but his dejected face told her more than enough. Perhaps, she considered, his first solo job.

“Could you make someone tell Gold I want a chat with him?”

The boy, whose eyes had still been searching any kind of escape even after admitting defeat, eyed his, motionless. He needed to know she was after all. The one who had escaped, who had begged for a change, who had made a deal with the man who didn’t give a thing freely. It was a story whispered on shadows and places police officer would never try to enter.

To the general public the Swan was a skilled thief, one that always got what she wanted. To the ones close enough to Gold the Swan had been the one who had gotten away.

“Are you crazy?” He asked, eyes wide and full of fear. “I don’t want to be demoted.”

Perhaps not so new then, Emma mused, if he had still a lower rank he could be send to.

“I’m not crazy.” She replied back. “But I know how Pan is. I wouldn’t hear the end of it. Just tell him who I am and that I want that talk with Gold.”

It would be a stupidity try to enter Gold’s house by night. The man’s house was filled with traps. Both mechanical and magical. No, the easiest way to enter and retrieve that damned ring was to actually do it through the front door.

She wished the amount of money she would receive would be big enough.

The boy hummed, still doubt on his eyes. Now that she took a closer look Emma could see the small marks that put on, perhaps, the second tier of the lower rank. It had been a long time since she thought on those old ranks; her memory was beginning to grow fuzzy. A welcome change perhaps but not one that aided her now.

“I thought the Swan was crazy.” The kid finally said. He didn’t have front teeth. The gap visible as he laughed. “Now I know you are.”

Emma raised her brows; she didn’t have the time to deal with that. And, as crazy as she could be -something she wasn’t entirely sure was so farfetched- she had a job to do.

“Will you pass this along?”

The boy eyed her before nodding, twice.

“I will.” He promised. “Can I stand now?”

Letting him stand to his two feet, Emma raised her right sleeve enough, so her tattoo was visible to the kid.

“I will know where to find you if you don’t do it.” She whispered. The tattoo didn’t have any discernible sigil written on it, but it was a symbol, something that marked her, would mark her, for as long as he lived as it was part of the same deal the little boy had struck with Pan.

Nodding, the boy turned and passed right next to her, scurrying away through the exit he had tried to reach earlier.

“By the way.” He called, his voice made of mist and sunlight. “You were followed.”

And, as Emma turned towards the main entrance of the alley, she discovered that she had, indeed been followed as there, clothes too rich for that side of the city and cocky smirk on place, Regina Mills waited for her.

* * *

 

 “What in all Hells were you thinking?” Emma was really beginning to lose her cool around the other woman.

Walking briskly, she had reached the brunette and, without a word, had begun to walk towards a less unkept knot of streets. If any thief -lost boy or otherwise- spotted the woman, they would probably need to worry about something more than just a ring. And that was actually saying something.

Regina, however, didn’t seem to worry about the neighborhood they were in, brown eyes sparkling with anger as she kept the pace of Emma’s longer legs with a powerful stride on her own.

“Do you know that once one got figured out the trick on your coat is actually easy to follow you, Miss Swan?” The woman asked, not all peeved when Emma turned to eye her before growling. The self-satisfied smirk the brunette had had when she had reached her hadn’t quite disappeared and Emma muttered curses under her breath as she made another turn.

The alley they were now in was already completely covered in the now tall sun that rose above the city, the golden hue that gave to the wooden walls around them giving an impression of a place who, at some point in time, had probably been prosper. Now, the only thing that was indeed profiting, was the small pub Emma was walking to.

Made out of darker wood than the other buildings around it, the pub served both drink and to anyone who was willing to pay for it and, despite the grease that ooze out of its planks, Emma still needed to find a place with better comfort food. Which was something she was planning to take after the clusterfuck a simple job had turned into.

“Do you know that following me here could be seen as suspicious if any police officer saw you?” She retorted as she turned and gave Regina the hardest stare she could muster. One that would perhaps wonder if her memory didn’t go back to how gorgeous the widow had looked a few hours ago.

She really needed to eat something.

Regina, despite the sudden paleness that crept through her face, answered to her glare with one of her own.

“I doubt those idiots will be down here, roaming about, trying to find a completely destroyed and grieving widow.”

Emma rolled her eyes at that, Regina could pull off many things, but grieving wasn’t one of them.

“You really don’t know when to quit, do you?” She asked. “I already told you, I will do the job. I don’t know why you are following me.”

Part of her anger could be due to how easy the other woman had been able to catch up with her. That rarely happened.  That, however, was a thought she didn’t plan on dwelling about. If she was correct on the assumption that Gold would be interested on trying to strike another deal with her she only had a few more hours and then she will be rich enough to not worry about taking any more jobs for a while.

Greed, Emma thought, was probably going to be her downfall.

“I don’t trust you.” Regina replied, succinctly as a couple of drunkards opened the door behind Emma. One of the gruff voices was one Emma recognized and, without missing a beat, she put the knife she always had hidden at her back out.

“Don’t even think about it, Leroy.” She called. The short man that had already started to approach her made some crass comments but took a step back.

Waiting for him and his companion to turn towards the same corner the two of them had walked in, Emma tilted her head back at the widow. Fierce, Regina’s eyes were full with anger and just a speck of purple. That had been how the woman had tracked her; inherent magic.

She really should have made more intel on her.

“Well.” She blurted, already turning towards the pub. “You don’t need to worry, your highness, I won’t be telling a soul that I firmly suspect whatever your deal with Gold was had something to do with the sorry death of your husband. As long as this job doesn’t kill me, and I end up being paid.”

Shaking with fury, she pushed the door of the pub open, the cloud that permanently clouded the establishment stinging on her eyes as she got accustomed to it. The usual patrons were already there; old sailors that didn’t work anymore; retired merchants that still thought their name and coin meant something and some shady characters she had already either worked for them or asked favors from.

“Misery meet company.” She heard Regina whisper at her side as the door closed behind the two of them.

“Not everyone can afford a midday lunch with the nobility.” Emma replied back, already searching for a place to seat and grateful when, between the cloud and the voices, she could spot one small table.

“I don’t really like those.”

“Then you will feel at home here.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at that answer but didn’t comment on it. Instead, she beat Emma to the table, taking one of the rickety chairs that were haphazardly thrown around it and seating a second before Emma reached it.

“Emma!”

Behind Regina, as soon as the blonde sat, a lanky brunette appeared holding what Emma had the suspicion was what Leroy and his friend had left before leaving: two empty tankards.

“Ruby, could you get me one of these and something with…”

“Cheese?” The lanky waitress laughed and nodded at Emma, glancing quickly and tilting her head in the only way she had to let Emma know she had a couple of questions that wouldn’t get unanswered if she had anything to do with it.

“Nothing for me.” Regina added, looking around her. Shrugging when Ruby hummed and rose her brows, Emma muttered a quick “later” that elicited a small smile from her friend. With a flourish, she was gone, off to collect more empty glasses.

“She seemed friendly.” Regina commented as soon as she was far enough. Emma snorted but nodded, knowing fully well that Ruby, with her enhanced hearing, had probably heard that last comment. Something she wasn’t going to tell to the uptight brunette.

“She is.”

From a few feet away Ruby turned and winked at her.

“I don’t trust you.” Regina started, almost as if the last conversation hadn’t been finished already. “I think you are cocky and I don’t think your reputation should be that inflated. Kathryn promised me the best but I’m beginning to suspect her feelings were misplaced.”

Emma rolled her eyes at that but refused to make a scene inside the pub. Ruby would probably ask for her head if she did that. Drumming her fingers against the surface of the small and slightly damp table, she shrugged and waited a few seconds until she was sure Regina wasn’t going to speak again.

“Then I’m sure you will be surprised that I got a way to enter in Gold’s house. If everything goes as it should be tonight you will have your ring back.”

Regina narrowed her eyes at that and seemed about to say something when Ruby approached again, placing a tankard in front of Emma as well as something that was indistinguishable among the cheese the woman had put on it.

“Thanks.” Emma mumbled, already taking a sip of her drink. Once Ruby left, she focused again on Regina, the brunette seeming to be gauging if Emma was actually telling the truth.

“That’s why I saw you with that boy?”

Emma sighed, the brunette wasn’t going to step back as it seemed. Putting her drink aside, she pointed at the door with her right thumb, the movement enough to make her coat tremble for a second.

“That boy was one of the Lost ones. He will deliver the news that I asked for an audience. That should get the man’s interest.”

If after Regina had seemed furious, now she seemed about to bolt. Nostrils flaring, she moved closer to Emma, a growl coiled on her chest.

“Are you crazy?” She whispered, loud enough that Emma glanced worriedly at the people around her. No one seemed to have heard them. “I asked you to retrieve my ring like a thief, Miss Swan. Not to ask it politely.”

“My name is Emma.” Emma said back. “If you are going to insult me and follow me we will be using our first names. And no, I’m not crazy. You are the crazy one thinking Gold’s mansion is something that can be broken into.”

“But he will know you are here.”

Emma laughed darkly at the brunette’s answer.

“He probably already knows that I’m the one you went to. The man’s ears are better than mine, Regina.”

The other woman eyed her, seemingly not truly believing on her. She seemed about to add a “Miss Mills” but, ultimately, didn’t.

“And what do you plan to do?” She mustered after a few seconds while Emma ate. “Tell him I want the ring back?”

The next part of the plan, albeit feeble, was the only one Emma felt sure about. Even if she didn’t know why on earth she felt compelled to do so. Until a few hours ago the further she was from Gold, the better. However, she was tired of running in circles. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to try a different approach with the man. One that didn’t end up with her death.

“I plan on outsmart him.” She said. “I already did that once.”

Now, the brunette just plainly laughed at her.

“You plan on winning at Gold’s own game? Goddess, you are insane.”

“Yes, I’ve called that already a few times.”

“Then is perhaps a truth, Miss Swan.” The other woman drawled.

“Emma.” The blonde retorted, taking another swing on her drink. “And I’m not insane. I already made a deal with him in the past. I know what to expect.”

“You clearly don’t.”

Emma sighed and put the tankard down. A history lesson then.

“I was part of the Lost Boys once. I wanted an out but it’s almost impossible to get that. I agreed with Gold that if I managed to get something he wanted he would free me.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, Emma continued, not quite looking at the brunette as she spoke. “I gave him a copy of the black jewel he wanted. He was furious but, as he discovered it after granting my wish he couldn’t take it back. His own rules prevented him for doing that.”

“And you think that giving him something would help us?” Regina’s incredulity only grew as Emma shook her head.

“He couldn’t break the deal, but he was able to change it just enough. I’m forever trapped on Storybrooke, Regina, unable to move away from here. I plan on using that to my advantage.”

“I don’t really see how.”

Emma grinned but kept silent. If she was going to play with fire at least she was trying to get something away from it.

“Because he is greedy. And if I can make him believe I will help him again I may be able to make him think again on that ring of yours. Since I can’t truly enter into that house without being detected. In a couple of hours, I will have your ring and you can go about whatever you were doing before. Be that readying your guilty admission or the funeral of your darling husband.”

Regina rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“You realize that you can get trapped inside that mansion, do you?” She finally asked, as Emma finished her food.

“What did you get from your ring?” The blonde retorted back. She had said more than enough after all, very few knew her entire story. At least outside the Lost Boys group. And she was desperate to see more of the world, not just Storybrooke.

Regina addressed her for the longest of seconds. Fury and rage had disappeared, but the cold demeanor remained. Something Emma had promptly seen as façade but hadn’t quite being able to peer through it.

“A venom.” The brunette finally admitted through gritted teeth.

“Interesting deal.” Emma replied, one brow raised, half-amused.  “So, this is why you are worried about the ring. It’s a loose end.”

“You are a loose end.” The brunette replied with a heavy sigh but it lacked bite. “The ring was a key that helped me get free of the monster that was my husband. You aren’t the only one with deals at their back, Miss Swan. I’ve suffered some myself. I needed an out.”

Emma sensed there was something else there, many were the stories of bastards that seemed good people only to be absolute monsters once the doors were closed. The other woman, however, didn’t say more, merely stealing the blonde’s last sips which elicited a chuckle from the blonde.

“You could have asked one for yourself.” She pointed out.

“I first wanted to be sure you weren’t going to drop dead due to an infection.”

Showing her teeth, Emma chuckled. “Worried about me?”

“About my investment.”

Emma hummed at that. The brunette was mercuric, yes, and a pain in the ass but, once she got to open, not as bad as she had imagined it.

“I was furious when I discovered that it was Gold the one behind this.” She said. “I suspected of the Lost Boys because that’s the kind of job they do on the side. I thought I was being duped.”

“So, you summoned one.”

Emma shrugged; she wasn’t going to start speaking about morality. Lost Boys could be summoned after all and they were often the best way to know things than any other spy.

“But, if he listens to me I may be able to take two deals about of this. And I will be able to go away.”

“You won’t find any difference with the outside world.” Regina replied, seeming withdrawn for a second before she shook her head. Her posture wasn’t as proper as they had entered but her black clothes made her stand out and, for a long moment, Emma’s attention was brought to the few eyes that kept glancing at them. She hoped the messenger didn’t delay. “Trust me, I should know.”

“You have still seen it.” Counterargumented the blonde. A reason that made Regina open her mouth, ready to say something, when the door of the pub opened, an older boy than the one Emma had caught but with the same gaze on his eyes than the first, quickly spotting Emma and making a beeline towards them.

“Tonight.” He whispered, not looking to the adults that, looking at the table intently, began to mutter curses and protective spells. Ones that wouldn’t work. Something that they didn’t need to know. “He asks you to bring her.”

With that, the boy nodded once more and left, closing the door at his back and letting the usual sounds of the bar fill the space once again.

“Her?” Regina managed to ask.

“He wants you there.” Emma replied, voice thin and worried. “Fuck.”

“Indeed.”

5

Gold’s mansion wasn’t as big as Leopold’s stead but was definetely built in order to amaze and keep the ones around it remembering full well who he was. Intricately decorated with details created on the molding around the roof and windows, it seemed like a puzzle about to be solved. The interior was made with richly decorated wood but that was fuzzy on Emma’s memory as she now approached it.

Despite being very close to the very center of the city, almost no one entered or passed in front of it if they could walk through another route. At the effects of the ones who ruled, Gold was an amazing citizen. At the eyes of the ones who weren’t bought, he was a force no one wanted to have against them.

Which was one of the reasons why Emma felt worry as she took the final steps towards what would be the first set of stairs that would direct her to the main entrance. She had guessed that Gold already knew who the thief had been asked to retrieve the ring. What she hadn’t expected was for him to invite the woman that kept on walking at her side; her snark completely forgotten as they both approached the door.

Door that, as they touched the first of the three stairs that led to it, opened ominously without a single sound.

“I don’t like this.”

Emma eyed the woman at her side.

“Understanding of the century.”

Regina didn’t respond but they both entered, side by side to the small hall that, with the only aid of a few fairy lights, was left in shadows as they door closed behind them.

Everything was just as Emma’s fuzzy memory remembered; from the dark red accents on the walls to the long, rich-looking wooden panels that covered floor and walls. And, just as he had been that last time, Gold was waiting for them with a smirk on his thin lips and just enough glint on his eyes for Emma to shudder.

“I’m so glad you could come, dearies.”

His voice hadn’t change as well; high-pitched, Emma had heard him only a second time after she had completed the deal and that had been when he had added that awful line to their signed contract. That time, it had harsher, deeper, and not entirely human. This time, if it weren’t for that malevolent glint, the perfectly dressed man didn’t seem the criminal lord he truly was.

“We truly didn’t have another option.” She replied, raising her chin at the man. She wasn’t going to be his plaything; as much as her plans for the night seemed to have been completely changed. At her side, she could see Regina taking a similar stance than the one she had given her back at her room; hip cocked and defiance exuding from her.

The man laughed at that however, and she walked towards them, a slight limp hindering his movements in a way Emma didn’t remember seeing last time she had been there. Which, she quickly thought, didn’t mean they had the upper hand. Gold’s gift was around deals, not physical battle.

“But you did, dearie. You could have walked away when you could.” Raising one hand, the man snapped his fingers, the fairy light growing brighter under his command. “It was the possibility of striking another deal with me what made you greedy. Wasn’t it?”

Turning to look at Regina after Emma gritted her teeth and remained silent, the man sighed and, for a second, he seemed honestly contrite.

“And you, you had your deal dearie; a ring for a life. Why did you think that you could outsmart me?”

Emma could see Regina’s lips parting for a second out of the corner of her eye, but the brunette’s voice didn’t reach her after a few tense moments. Apparently, the other woman had decided to remain silent as well.

“What a pity.” The man continued, shaking his head sadly. “And still I have you both here. I wonder what you will try now.”

“I want to make a deal.” Emma quickly said, meeting Gold’s eyes. The man eyed her, bemused, but remained silent. “Give her back the ring and I will aid you; with whatever deed you ask me to do.”

Shaking one long finger, the man approached Emma, looking, suddenly, taller than her.

“You already did that, dearie.”

Gritting her teeth, Emma nodded, shoulders squared. “I give you my word that I will give you whatever you want.”

“And what the condition would be if that happens?”

Emma glanced at Regina for a second before answering, taking a step towards her side, halfway shielding her from Gold’s gaze.

“If I do that I want to be able to leave Storybrooke.”

Gold’s giggle raised above them.

“That’s two deals, not one.” He said, still laughing.

“I will steal for you two times then.”

She heard Regina’s gasp behind her but didn’t look away. There was the compulsion again. The man hummed, playfully, and Emma had the sudden realization than that had been his goal all along. She truly had forgotten more than she had originally thought if that was true.

“And you, my dear.” Gold said, turning to look at Regina and slowly approaching her until he was far too close to her. “Will you let her do that? In exchange for a ring that you gave me first?”

Regina remained silent for a moment before standing as tall as she was, eyes swirling in purple.

_“No.”_

That’s when the last piece of the puzzle fell in place. Gold had known she was working with Regina since the beginning, but it wasn’t only Emma’s skills he was after but the brunette’s inherent magic. A kind of magic and power that couldn’t be bought or acquired in any other kind of way.

“What’s the prize, Gold?” Regina’s voice was cold, calm and collected, vowels holding blizzards and storms as she spoke. “What do you want from me?”

The man grinned maniacally. “You already know that.”

For a split second, Emma doubted on what to do. She barely knew the woman next to her after all and yet, despite her stubbornness, despite how much she sometimes felt at loss and had felt at loss ever since knowing her, the thought of Gold using her made her tremble.

A tug on her chest, she put herself between the man and the brunette, one hand at her back, pressed at Regina’s stomach.

“I was the one she contracted, Gold. Take my deal.”

The man’s skin seemed to glow for a moment, making Emma think on the metal the man was called after. After that, the shimmer was gone as well as the crazed smile.

“I will give you the ring back.” He said, pensive. “But I will ask for a favor, a favor that could be asked at any point in the future by me and not by anyone else. And -he added, seeing Emma beginning to nod- once you complete that for me, I will think about that… pesky little line at the end of your last deal.”

Emma nodded, teeth gritted. “Alright.” She said. “You have a deal.”

* * *

 

“I believe this is yours.”

They were at the outskirts of White Manor; Gold’s spell having left them very close to the backyard garden. On her hand, Emma hold the ring Gold had given her. Cold to the touch, she didn’t even eye it as she usually did before giving it to Regina who, still silent, remained rooted to the spot.

“Regina?” She insisted, for only to the brunette sigh and turn, picking the ring and sliding on a small pendant she wore around her neck. Something, Emma thought, she hadn’t realized until now.

“Why did you do it?” The other woman’s voice was soft, softer than anything Emma had heard coming from her. With a small shrug, the blonde eyed the grass that surrounded them well kept but starting to need to be trimmed.

“Because that’s good people do, I guess.” She wasn’t telling the entire truth, but Regina didn’t conduct herself as someone that knew her full potential. She didn’t want to make that decision for her. As crazy it sounded. “I will find a way to free myself. And I have a lot of information that I can blackmail you with. If you don’t end up in jail that is.”

The brunette looked at her, not entirely believing it for what Emma could take from her glance, but not pressing further.

“What do you think he will ask you to do for him?” Regina finally asked, eyes lost on the darkness around them. Sun was already settling, and shadows run free around them as clouds quickly covered the black sky with a grey hue; almost indistinguishable from the sky itself.

“In exchange of my freedom?” Emma replied. She was now fiddling with the edges of her coat, the tattoo on her wrist suddenly itching as she remembered back Gold’s eyes as she stared back at him. “Probably something disgusting.”

Regina hummed at the answer but didn’t comment on it. It wasn’t necessary after all. They had the ring; the contract was over.

"Do you think you will end up judged?" Emma asked, only to get a mirthless chuckle. No, she thought, the brunette woman, albeit despised on some circles, had enough money to not end up in jail. Not for now at least. Gold knew how to secure his investments. He would probably arrange it until they finished their deals. Or until he lost interest on Regina's power.

“The ring belonged to someone I loved.” The brunette said just as Emma started to move back to the shadows, coat clenched at her sides. Halting, the blonde glanced at the other woman, all animosity she could have felt before gone. “That’s why Gold wanted it. He said he needed something… that had a value no one else could have for it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Emma asked, voice suddenly as soft as the nocturnal breeze.

Chuckling darkly, Regina shook her head, playing absentmindedly with the pendant on her neck.

“Because he died before we could elope. Before my marriage with…Leopold. Before he did, though, he asked me to love again.”

“Regina…”

Turning abruptly, the brunette grasped Emma by the lapels of the coat and kissed her, forcefully. Her lips were soft though against hers and Emma found herself answering to the kiss, all defenses dropping at once as Regina growled and bit down on her bottom lip enough for her to let her deepen the kiss.

“I loathe you.” The brunette finally said after a few seconds, taking a step back with her eyes closed. “But I think we can both work around whatever deal Gold makes you follow. Together.”

“That doesn’t sound like loathing.” Emma replied, cockily once the daze of Regina’s kiss began to subside.

“And you don’t seem like an infuriating idiot but here we are.”

It was Emma’s turn to laugh. Circling Regina’s waist with her arms, she nodded solemnly.

“Together then.” She replied, stealing a peck and moving away before the other woman could say something. “Lead the why your highness.”

“As you wish; Emma.”


End file.
